The Blue Boy
by LadyPureblood
Summary: Just a short drabble that came to me that I decided to write down: what I perceived as the beginning of Ted and Andromeda's relationship...


"Ew, It touched me!"

Bella's high pitched wail was accompanied by the crash of fallen books hitting the stone floor. Andromeda looked up from her book to see what Bella had bumped into, reprimand on her tongue for being so careless with her belongings and getting so worked up about a stupid statue or whatever it was. She wasn't expecting to see a boy crouched down at their feet, clumsily collecting his fallen things, his fair hair obscuring his face and muffling his angry grumbles.

Bella continued to flail and wail like a small child who had just touched a particularly slimy insect. "Dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty," she chanted like some demented madwoman, wiping her contaminated arm along the wall next to her.

The boy glanced up at the movement and glared fiercely. "It's hardly contagious," he growled. Andromeda wasn't particularly surprised to see the boy was Ted Tonks, he was a hufflepuff in her year, and although relatively popular, wasn't much respected among the slytherin students for being an out-spoken muggle-born.

"For all I know, it could be you dirty little mud-"

"Bella!" They both snapped their heads up, startled. Andromeda was a little started herself, only realising she had spoken when two pairs of eyes where staring at her. One light, one dark. Bella was the first to recover.

"It touched me Dromeda, touched me!"

Andromeda's eyes flashed warningly as Tonks scoffed from below. "Don't be so childish, it's not a disease."

"But-"

Andromeda grabbed Bella's arm, pulling her close roughly before hissing in her ear, "Your tact is disgraceful. Go and see what Cissy is up to."

"But she's with-" Bella whined.

"Now Bellatrix!"

With one last glare aimed Tonks, Bella stomped off, grumbling under her breath and hissing at students unfortunate enough to pass her.

Andromeda looked at the lean boy in front of her, who was trying to juggle three books under one arm and fix his broken ink pot with his wand in one hand and the smashed glass in the other. Ink was pouring all down his hands and onto the stone floor. She raised an eyebrow in vague amusement as the inevitable happened and the books lost their purchase and tumbled to the floor once more. In a startled movement, the ink pot soon followed. The boy stood staring at the mess at his feet for three seconds before taking a deep, calming breath and rubbing his hands over his face in an attempted to rid some of his growing irritation. It didn't quite work as he soon realised his mistake and jerked his hands away, looking at the ink flooded palms and fingers in a state of disbelief. He closed his eyes and lolled his blue smeared face back, breathing deeply through his nose.

Andromeda took pity on him, and smirking slightly she bent down and collected the books, waving her wand at the inky mess where it promptly vanished. There was no use trying to fix the damn thing, it was broken beyond repair. She didn't understand why he didn't just try and fix it while he was on the floor, although, she supposed having your back bared unprotected towards two slytherins for a prolonged time probably wasn't the best idea someone could have.

She rose gracefully, and held out the books. "I'm sorry about that."

He jumped slightly, snapping his head up so fast it clicked, obviously thinking she had already gone. He stared at her stupidly while be absently rubbed at his neck, obliviously spreading more ink into his skin, then stared at the books, then back at her. "What?" he blinked.

She arched an eyebrow, wiggling the books slightly which he quickly took. "I'm sorry, about my sister. She's a little..."

"Prejudice, yeah. I noticed. Don't worry, i'm used to it so...anyway thanks. For the books," he raised them up in a half-hearted salut before shoving them into his bag.

She nodded in reply. He glanced around, obviously wondering where his ink pot had gone. Andromeda rolled her eyes, "I banished the pot. It was beyond repair," at his disheartened look she rolled her eyes again, "I'll get you a new one."

He glanced at her, surprised. "No, it's fine. Really. I can just borrow a mate's," he shrugged indifferently, adjusting the strap of his shoulder bag. He missed her look of disgust. _Asking to borrow from someone else? _

"Hardly," She huffed. He frowned at her. "Look, my sister broke your possession, and she's hardly going to replace it so that leaves it down to me-no don't interrupt, I insist."

Tonks stared at her, a look of mixed suspicion and confusion on his face. After a long moment his face softened, apparently satisfied with whatever he found in her expression, making it somewhat pleasant.

"Why?" his voice deep and adopting the suspicion no longer present in his face.  
Andromeda stared at him, unblinkingly.

Tonks looked a little disconcerted until she abruptly spoke, "You're covered in ink, I suggest you go wash it off before transfiguration or McGonagall will go spare."

With that, she glided away, leaving the blue boy staring after her in bewilderment.

...

"So, we would be pretty lost without owls, no? Who can tell me what muggles use as communication? Black?" Ted had noticed how Professor Hart liked to pick on the pureblooded students in muggle studies, but hadn't worked out if he did it to see if they were paying any attention or if it was for his own bitter entertainment.

"I don't know why he's asking _her_, like she'd know anything muggle related. Probably be scared it'd damage her brain or something." Joe whispered scornfully, loud enough for it to carry a few tables. While not the best insult, it still made Black, who was sitting just one table in front, visibly tense. Her friends on either side turned around slowly, glaring daggers at Joe. He met their glares dead-on. Ted shook his head. Suicidal, the boy was suicidal.

However, Black simply flicked her light brown hair over one shoulder and answered calmly, "Well, they can either use the postal service, much like our owl service but using people instead of owls. Or telephones, which is a telecommunication device which transmits and receives sounds by converting sound waves to electrical signals, allowing two people to communicate immediately. Much like our floos, but using just the voice."

Hart nodded in appraisal, awarding slytherin five points.

Next to him, Joe's scowl deepened, "Bloody inbred probably forced some poor muggle-born to-"

"Joe! Leave it mate, she just knew the answer," Ted glared at his friend as Black turned around in her seat to do the same, her dark eyes flashing dangerously.

"What's the matter Barker? Can't stand the fact I know more about the muggle world then muggle-raised you?" She hissed scornfully, eyes narrowed and eyebrows raised in challenge. Joe opened his mouth to reply but Ted kicked him under the table before he could utter a sound. Joe turned his glare to his friend in betrayal before grumbling and sinking down into his seat, scribbling angrily on his parchment. Black smirked smugly and faced the front.

...

At the end of class, Ted made an excuse to his friends and ran to catch up with Black, who was strolling back towards the dungeons, trailing a little behind her friends searching her bag for something.

"Hey, Black!" She turned, curls bouncing around her face, eyes bright. Unfortunately, so did her friends who immediately stopped and glared suspiciously, hands hovering over their wands. Ted tried his most charming smile and raised his hands in a sign of peace stopping short a few feet in front of them. Black looked between them and rolled her eyes, she turned around and muttered something to her friends who immediately began to protest but soon relented, and stormed off, not before giving Ted a dark look, promising pain of death if anything happened to their friend.

"A little suspicious, aren't they?" he said lightly, walking closer to Black now he was no longer in immediate danger.

Black shrugged slightly, "Can you blame them?"

"I've never said anything about..." he trailed off. Black looked at him intensely, "I mean.." he couldn't quite get his brain to work under the girls scrutiny. He tried again, "I mean, I don't have any qualms with your...parentage. I think it's stupid to care so much about something so out of our control."

He swallowed as she continued to stare, head tilted to one side, her naturally wide eyes appearing suddenly too large for her delicate face. After what seemed like an hour, she nodded slowly, agreeing with his quick defence or admission he wasn't sure. He decided not to press the subject.

"So anyway, I wanted to apologise." At her blank look he clarified, "From before, my friends, they're a little..."

"Prejudice. I noticed, don't worry, I'm used to it." She smirked slightly. Ted gave a wry smile, accepting the irony.

"Here," she dug into her back once more before giving a small exclaim of triumph and produced a small crystal pot, filled with dark blue ink with a flourish.

Ted's eyebrows rose spectacularly and he took the offered pot, "Oh, wow, I didn't except you to actually get me one," he muttered, inspecting the expensive glass in awe.

"I insisted didn't I?" her voice was haughty but when Ted looked up he noticed her smile was friendly, if not a little shy.

"Wow, thank you! It's really nice!" Ted exclaimed, cradling the pot like you would something incredibly precious.

"It's just an ink pot," she muttered, looking slightly uncomfortable but she soon met his eyes again with a confident, "Your welcome. It's made from extra-strong crystal so in theory it shouldn't break. Although that doesn't mean go and start chucking it at walls and such, because I'm not buying you a new one if you smash it," she glared in mock challenge, folding her arms.

Ted laughed, "I shall guard it with my life!" he exclaimed impressively. Black grinned. Ted noticed how her whole face lit up when she smiled, truly smiled. He certainly had never had it aimed at him before, and was strangely jealous at those who got to see it everyday.

"You know, I don't think we've ever properly introduced ourselves," Ted said, thoughtfully, "And seeing as you've just bought me a gift, we should at least know each other's names right?" He grinned cheekily at her narrowed eyes.

"It wasn't a gift, it was a replacement," she stated, pulling a face.

"Tomayto, tomahto," at her look of bemusement Ted remembered she wasn't muggle-raised and muttered a quick, "Never mind."

She watched him with narrowed eyes for a few more seconds before suddenly stating, "It's Tonks, right?"

"Yeah, Theodore Tonks, my friends call me Ted." Ted held out his hand.

She raised an eyebrow, plump lips twitching slightly in one corner. _Stop looking at her lips, Ted!_ "Presumptuous," she muttered, smirking. Ted felt his face flush slightly before she continued, "Are we friends?"

His hand wavered slightly, but stayed aloft. "I don't know, are we?"

She looked at him for a long moment, her expression eerily blank. She seemed to be assessing something. What, he didn't know but he was starting to feel stupid with his hand outstretched and so he gave his fingers a small wiggle, "It's Black right?" he prompted, trying his best at imitating the smirk he had seen adorn her face too many times. It worked. Black seemed to come to an internal decision finally and slowly accepted his hand, her palm soft in his.

"Yes, Andromeda Black." she glanced at their joined hands, hesitating for half a heartbeat before looking up and meeting his eyes, "My friends call me Dromeda."

He grinned. "Not Andy?" The dead arm was worth the look of mixed outrage and disgust on Black's face. Andromeda's. _Dromeda's_.

He couldn't seem to be able to wipe away the goofy grin from his face all the way back to his common room.

_... Fin ..._


End file.
